ICR is a fantastic place to live! When we moved to Cedar Rapids 3 years ago, the schools paired each of our children with mentors from their schools. Before we arrived in ICR, they both had friends texting, calling, and snap-chatting which was really awesome and made the new schools feel like home from day one.

After a couple meetings, including a key sit down with members of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, I decided Iowa City was a viable market for LocalsLoveUs. It’s been two years and things are going really well! In fact, my business concept is now expanding into Cedar Rapids in an effort to cover the entire ICR and showcase the region’s best businesses

My wife and I came to Cedar Rapids sixteen years ago because we hoped it would be a good place to raise our kids. It was better than that. It has been a great place for our kids to grow up. I know that because the schools were good, their extracurricular activities exciting and varied, and they have all successfully gone on to college and jobs. Doesn’t get much better than that.

ICR is a great location to do business. Within 30 minutes of my office in Cedar rapids we have easy access to a population of over 400,000 people. An easy commute means this population base are not only potential customers but also provide a large workforce that is very talented

United Fire Group (UFG) has offices all across the country, and the quality of our workforce here in Iowa City – Cedar Rapids is second to none. We are always able to attract very talented people here.

A cybersecurity firm could be started just about anywhere. ICR’s wealth of growing companies enabled us to more than triple in size, staff with incredible employees, and gain access to state and local programs that enable our firm to stay on top of the latest cyber threats.

If I was launching a new business the first two things I’d be looking for is a well-educated workforce that wants to work and good healthcare. We have both. I know the former because we employ nearly four thousand people here and I know the latter because the nation says it’s so. Cedar Rapids has been a national model for high quality, affordable health care, called to Washington repeatedly to tell them how we do it. On that scale we’re the best value in the country.